I Will Always Return
by phantomgirl259
Summary: Nick, Toby, Jessica and Lucas thought life in Venture Falls couldn't be better, until Toby is murdered on his way home from school. Drowning in his depression, Nick becomes obsessed in finding the person who took his older brother away from him. But is Toby really gone? And is his killer a little closer to home than anyone realizes?
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 ** _They say that your teenage years are when a child begins to bloom into an adult, when you start to discover who you are, where you start to see yourself in the future, wonder who will you give your first kiss to..._**

 ** _Unfortunately, I never had the joy of experiencing those things, I never a chance got to think about my future or have a girlfriend._**

 ** _Lost my family and my friends. I lived in a great town called Venture Falls, went to an amazing school, had a little brother called Nick, two amazing friends called Jessica and Lucas and basically I was a happy kid._**

 ** _My name is Toby Tripp and I was 13 years old._**

 ** _When I was murdered..._**


	2. An Easy Life

**Chapter 1: An Easy Life**

 _ **You would think that living in Venture Falls means living an easy life, well you're so wrong.**_ _ **We do get the odd earthquake, storm or fire but other than that it was a great place to call home.**_

It was around noon and Toby and the gang were at the mall.

"Hey guys look at this!" Lucas exclaimed and showed the others new video game but Nick wasn't paying attention. He was too busy looking around the mall anxiously for something.

"Hey bro, what's wrong?" Toby asked.

"I have a feeling that someone's watching us." Jessica looked around but couldn't see anyone strange. "I don't see anyone." She shrugged. "It's probably nothing." Toby said before buying a comic.

 _ **But as usual I was wrong, someone was watching us, mainly watching me.**_

 _ **If I wasn't to caught up in my own world I probably would have noticed, but I didn't and it cost me dearly.**_

* * *

 _ **When we got home that night me and Nick were making some crystal wind chimes in Nick's room for our Grandmother's 75th birthday, and I have to admit they are very pretty.**_

"Hey Nick, how's yours doing?" Toby asked as he tried to place the glass pieces in the right order. "Pretty good." Nick's was almost perfect with orange and yellow shards and in the middle was a gold star.

Toby's had different shades of blue shards and hanging in the middle was an shiny blue dolphin, his favourite animal.

"I'm not very good at this." He admitted with a nervous chuckle. "It's fine Toby." Nick reassured but his older brother shook his head. "Nah, Grandma won't want this, you can have it."

Nick didn't know what to say as Toby hanged the wind chime over Nick's desk.

"Thanks bro." Suddenly their Mom started calling. "Boys dinners ready." When Nick got up and went to walk away Toby quickly grabbed his arm. "Watch this." He smiled and opened Nick's bedroom window.

A sweet little tune suddenly rang through the air as the strong wind blew around the room and caused the wind chime sway.

Nick watched in wonder as Toby slowly closed the window and the tune soon faded away till the room was filled with silence.

 _ **After all these years that sweet tune still rings in my ears, I could never forget it even if I wanted to.**_

That night Toby sat on his bed with his flash light and his new comic with his headphones on full volume, unaware that just across the street someone was watching him closely...


	3. In The Dark Of The Night

**Chapter 2: In The Dark Of The Night**

 _ **I remember waking up one morning and the guys were hang out on the front lawn.**_ _ **I went out and starting riding around the street on my bike with Jessica's new camera.**_

"Hey guys look at me. Smile!" Toby laughed as the guys turned around and Toby quickly snapped their photo.

"Toby!" Jessica exclaimed angrily but Toby just laughed and continued riding his bike around the street. "Hey Mom, Dad." Said people turned around just as Toby took their photo.

"Toby Tripp!" His mother glared, but the boy was already peddling off.

Sighing, Mr Tripp turned back to the person he was talking to the man he and his wife were talking to.

 _ **My murder was a man from our neighbourhood, I took his picture once when he and my parents were talking about his rose bushes.**_ _ **Then I thought Lucas might like them, you know, being a nature lover and all. Yet just as I was about to take the picture when he just stepped out of nowhere and ruined the shot.**_

The person Mr Tripp was talking to was their neighbour John Kent. He was 46 years old, had short brown hair that was neatly combed back and honey brown eyes, he wore a chocolate brown jacket and white jeans.

"Sorry about our son." Mr Tripp sighed.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, kids are balls of energy, it takes a patient person to put up with them." John explained and gave Mrs Tripp one of his roses.

"Sounds like you speak from experience." Mrs Tripp smiled sweetly, but John just shook his head sadly.

"Sadly I have no children but I did have a son once, his mother passed away giving birth to him. When he was just a child tragedy snatched my little boy away, he was just like your son Toby." John explained sadly.

"I'm very sorry for your loss."

John just nodded and headed back to his house...

* * *

 _ **My murder, John Kent, had lost his son Billy in a hit and run accident.**_ _ **Billy was just a year older than me when he died, the cops never caught the guy driving the car.**_ _ **It pretty much sent John over the deep end.**_ _ **Everyday he saw people around town with their sons enjoying the love and happiness he would never have again.**_

That night John sat in his living room staring out the window. Across the street he could see Toby sat on his bed reading a comic. John sighed and sat on his couch. He quickly grabbed a sketch book and pen, he started to draw plans for something.

After he was finished with the plans he went into the garage and started cutting wood planks.

It was around 3 am when John went to an old field not to far from the Venture Falls High School and started digging...


	4. The Underground Den

**Chapter 3: The Underground Den**

 ** _About a week after I had 'borrowed' Jessica's camera my murder began to put his despicable plan into action._**

"Boys hurry up or you'll be late to school!" Mrs Tripp called from the kitchen.

She wasn't that worried about Nick since he was always up bright and early but Toby had a bit habit of sleeping in. "I'm coming!" Nick replied, as he walked down the hall he peeped into Toby's room and saw he brother getting changed.

"You might wanna hurry up big bro or else your gonna get another detention." Nick smirked.

"Yeah I know."Toby shrugged. After about 30 minutes Toby and Nick headed off to school. As the walked down the street John Kent watched them from his window with an evil look in his brown eyes...

* * *

It was about halfway through the school day and the gang had be through the agony of Maths, the terrifying force of English and they were currently trying to survive the horrors of Science.

As the teacher babbled on about the cells in our bodies Toby felt his eyelids start to drop.

Using all of his might he forced his eyelids to stay open but the harder he tried the heavier his eyes became. " _Shouldn't of read that comic all night_." He thought before sleep took him.

After 5 minutes of sleeping the teacher suddenly slammed some books down on Toby's desk, causing the sleeping boy's head to shoot up in shock.

"Sleeping in class again Toby Tripp?" She asked with a glare. "No I was just resting my eyes." He replied with a nervous chuckle. "DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL!" Toby just groaned...

* * *

It was about 4 pm when Toby was allowed to leave the school, as he walked along the the stone path home a strong wind blew by and it sent his blue woolly hat Jessica had got him for Christmas flying into an old field.

"Wow!" A man exclaimed and caught the hat just as it was about to fly passed him.

It was John Kent. "Here you go kid." He smiled and passed Toby the hat. "Thanks."

 _ **I didn't know why at the time but something about John just gave me the creeps, now I know why.**_

"Hey your Mr Tripp's son Toby right?" He asked with a warm smile.

"That's right." Toby said uneasily. "I just finished working on something over here and I was hoping for a second opinion." Toby knew where this was going.

"I'm sorry but I gotta get home."

John's expression went from excited to disappointed in a instance. "It would just take a few minutes of your time." Toby thought about it for a minute, something about John Kent just creped him out but his parents always said to be nice to everyone even if you think their weird.

"Ok fine, just a quick look couldn't do any harm."

 _ **What I didn't know was that I had just sealed my fate, if I could do it over again I would have listen to my gut and headed home but I didn't.**_

* * *

Back at the Tripp House Lucas and Jessica were there for dinner.

"Thanks for letting us stay for dinner Mrs Tripp." Jessica smiled as Mrs Tripp passed the food around. "Has anyone seen Toby?" She asked when she noticed that her son wasn't at the table.

"He had another detention for falling asleep in class again." Lucas explained before taking a bite out of his peas.

"Again?!" Mr Tripp exclaimed. "He's gonna be grounded for a week when he gets home." He glared.

 _ **What Dad didn't know was that I wasn't coming home.**_

* * *

"What do you think?" John asked as he led Toby into the middle of the field. "I don't see anything." Toby said as he looked around the field, there was nothing in the field but Toby, John and a bunch of dead plants.

"Take a closer look." John smiled and brushed some dirt away to reveal a hidden trapdoor.

As they climbed down a ladder into an underground den. It had dozens of shelves full of comics, video games, action figures, magazines and drinks, at the top was a small disco ball and on the ground was 3 flash lights pointed at the disco ball causing light to bounced the otherwise dark lair.

"I made this hoping that the local kids could use this as a little den." John explained.

Toby looked around in wonder unaware that John had locked the door, trapping them both inside. "There are some rules though, rule 1: no adults." John laughed, Toby just chuckled slightly, not knowing what to do.

"You want a drink?" The man asked and handed Toby a can of soda.

"Thanks Mr Kent but I really should be getting home." Toby said and tried to leave, only to be stopped by John. "Rule 2: You gotta be polite." John glared and forced the drink into Toby's hand.

"Take a seat." He smiled and pointed to a cushion on the floor.

Thinking that if he did what John said the quicker he would get out of here, Toby slowly sat on the cushion and John sat in front of him...

* * *

At the Tripp House everyone was starting to worry.

"Have you tried his phone?" Nick asked his mother. It had been about over an hour since Toby's detention should have finished. "Yes, it just goes straight to voice mail, either he turned it off or it's dead." Mrs Tripp explained as she dialled a number.

"Who are you ringing now Mrs Tripp?" Jessica asked, she was also worried cause it wasn't like Toby to stay out this late.

"I'm calling the police." She said, waiting for someone to pick up. "Why, he's probably trying to pull a prank on us all, you know what he's like." Mr Tripp said with a shrugged.

"No something is wrong I can feel." Mrs Tripp said.

"Hello? Police please." As Mrs Tripp talked to the police Nick quickly grabbed a photo of Toby and raced towards the door. "Nick where are you going?" Lucas asked.

"I'm gonna look for Toby." He said and raced out the house...

* * *

In the den Toby was beyond scared. John wouldn't let him leave and every time he mentioned it John would just get angrier. "Look John, thanks for showing this place but I really have to get going." Toby said and turned to leave only to have John push him back down.

"You not going anywhere!" John spat causing Toby to flinch slightly.

John noticed this and sighed. "Toby relax, I'm not going to hurt you." But Toby knew this man was lying through his teeth. "Really?" Toby asked, unknown to John, Toby was slowly reaching from the can of soda John had give him early.

"Yeah, I would never hurt you."

Toby just nodded slowly, he now had a good grip on the can. "I just want to spend time with-" Suddenly Toby threw the soda into John's eyes. "AHHHH!" The man cried in pain.

Toby raced to the door, only to find it locked.

Toby pulled and pushed the door with all his might but it wouldn't budge. All of a sudden something grabbed the back of Toby's shirt and he was thrown to the ground.

Before he had time to move John climbed on top of him and put his large hands on Toby's neck, slowly choking him.

Toby tossed and turned as he tried to get the mad man off him but John just wouldn't quit. Toby felt his strength starting fade as his lungs begged for air. The last thing he saw was John's wicked smirk before the darkness took him...


	5. Awakening and the Bathroom

**Chapter 4: Awakening and the Bathroom**

 _ **Soon I woke up about two hours after John attacked me.**_

When Toby opened his eyes he saw he was lying in the field and it was late at night.

When he stood up he saw that the place where the hidden door should have been was gone. Suddenly Toby found himself on an empty street. " _Excuse me have you seen my brother anywhere_?" Nick's voice echoed all around him.

"Nick?" He called but got no replied...

* * *

"Excuse me have you seen my brother?" Nick asked a young woman who was walking down the street. "No sorry." She said and walked off. He asked many other people the same thing and showed them his picture but no one had seen him.

"Come on bro, where are you?" He muttered.

Eventually Nick began thinking about heading home to see if Toby had made it home...

 _ **But in his heart Nick knew wasn't at home and I think he knew that I wasn't coming home ever again.**_

* * *

Toby walked around the empty street endlessly.

Trying to find someone who could help him, but it was little Venture Falls had become a Ghost town. " _Come on bro, where are you_?" Yet again, Nick's voice echoed all around him.

Toby began to panic.

"Nick!" He cried again, but when he didn't get a reply again he cried louder. "NICK!"

 ** _I cried for my brother, to tell him what had happened, to tell him I was all right. But even though I could hear him, I couldn't find him._** ** _I had never felt so alone in my whole life..._**

* * *

As Nick began to walk home a very cold, strange and scary chill ran down his spine yet he wasn't cold and a strong wind hadn't blown by recently.

 _Nick._

Came a voice so faint that he could hardly hear it, it was Toby's voice. Nick whipped his head around so fast that he got a small case of whiplash. Yet he couldn't find the source of the voice.

" _Nick_!" Toby's voice cried again, this time much louder.

But he couldn't see his big brother anywhere...

* * *

Suddenly a blast of white smoke blew in Toby's face and he found himself in a messy bathroom.

He could see someone in the bath tub with a rag over his face so Toby couldn't tell who it was. Looking around he saw the sink was full of dirt and...blood and hair.

Toby slowly turned away from the sink and looked around.

He saw clothes and the floor that were also covered in blood and dirt. His clothes. Toby felt his heart beating so fast his though it would burst from his chest and he was struggling for breath.

It felt like John had his hands on Toby's throat again.

Suddenly Toby saw the person in the bath tub move. The person in the bath tub began to remove the rag off their face, Toby saw John's face.

 _ **Realization**_ _ **hit me like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on my head.**_

Toby screamed as he faded into nothingness...


	6. The Discovery

**Chapter 5: Discovery**

 ** _It had been 3 days since John killed me and no one, not even me, knew where my body was._**

Nick couldn't sleep.

He spent his time sat in his room staring out the window, he just couldn't get those voice he heard on the day Toby vanished out of his head. It had been 3 days since Toby disappeared and no one had found any leads to where he was.

Mrs Tripp spent most of her time sat by the phone waiting for the police to call and say that they've found something.

If she wasn't by the phone she was standing on the porch waiting for her son to come back home. But it never happened. Mr Tripp wasn't his usual cheery self any more.

He would sit there for hour just staring at nothing until someone snapped him out of it.

Jessica and Lucas tried to comfort the Tripp's. They kept telling them that everything would be all right and the police would find Toby soon...

* * *

In the field near by the school a man called Derek Harris was with a team of police with the dogs were following a lead on Toby's disappearance. Apparently a dog walker last saw him walking into the field after school but so far they had found nothing.

"Detective!" One of the officers call from the spot where he was standing.

Harris walked over to the officers and picked up what the dogs had sniffed out, it was Toby's woolly hat. But's that not all they found...

* * *

It wasn't very long Harris was sat in the Tripp's living room with Mr and Mrs Tripp.

"Early today my men found this in an old field near the school." Harris explained and showed them the hat that was now in an evidence bag. "That's good." Mr Tripp said, trying to stay positive.

"You found Toby's hat but you didn't him, that means that he's still out there somewhere." He added with a smile, but Harris wasn't smiling.

"We also found blood." Mrs Tripp sobbed and Mr Tripp's smile dropped. "A large amount of Toby's blood." Mrs Tripp cried harder into her husband's shoulder and Mr Tripp just sat there...

* * *

After Harris left Mr Tripp went to Toby's room and sat on his son's bed, the seconds felt like hours as he sat there, just staring at the wall thinking. "Dad." A quiet but concerned voice called from the bedroom door.

Mr Tripp looked up and saw Nick standing in the doorway.

"He's dead isn't he?"...


End file.
